I JOINED the navy in early 1943, my papers arrived telling me to report to HMS Ganges which was a shore base training centre in Ipswich.
I arrived at HMS Ganges in the late afternoon, allotted my barrack room which held about 50 men, all about the age of 18 to 20, they came from all over the country, Scottish, South, Midlands, North.

After settling in we began our training which seemed to be square bashing, learning knots and basic seamanship. This lasted weeks, after this we had a short leave then posted to our main depot Chatham, right down on the south coast miles from home.

After a few days we were given a choice to become an AA Gunner or crews of a landing craft, I chose AA gunner.
Little did I know at the time it was a wise choice.
After another couple of weeks, I was sent to Skegness to start my training, with four classes of 13 men in each to train for, boarding ship, rifle firing and rope climbing.
This lasted for two weeks and at the end of the first week half the class of 13 had a weekend leave, my luck was out meaning a weekend on duty.
At last the course finished and this is when my luck changed. The last four names in the class were made into class 5, and this class would go to Ainsdale. Six miles from home, and shore leave every other night, what could be better.
This was a six week course on light AA guns. By the time I had finished the course I was now an AA3, capable of taking charge of a light ack ack gun and another 3p per day, I received good marks, I had a good time at home, now back to my depot Chatham to wait for a draft to a ship.
I must have been in Chatham three or four weeks before my name appeared on the notice board, I had been posted to ship called the Ashanti, being new to the navy I had no idea what kind of ship this was, but it did not take me long to find out, she was a tribal class destroyer, very heavily armed with a crew of 200.

On the morning of September 1943 we mustered in the drill hall with our kit, this was it, at last I was off to sea, we boarded a training, you never had any idea were you where going to, top secure, it was war time.

By the afternoon, we found out, the ship stood there in the London docks.
She bad been completely overhauled, but still required to be finished off, the dock workers were still on the job finishing off which took about one week, we were given our sleeping, or should I say living quarters, you sleep, eat and live in the same space, I finished up in the nose of the ship, the forecastle, there must have been 20 men in a space of 20ft by 15ft, not much room to play around, your kit was stored in a locker which was the seating you sat on, and as I found out later we spent quite a lot of our time sleeping on them instead of our hammocks.

My action station was the single mounting on the port side amid ships, just over the four torpedo tubes, I preferred the single mounting you could control them better, the power operated by hydraulics with a joy-stock, they were very poor at following a target, the manually operated were much better.
I had been posted to port watch, the ship’s company was either port or starboard watch, one watch was always on call.
After a few days we were ready to move, we were towed out of the dock into the river, and under our own steam we headed down river, next stop Sheerness, for trials to see if everything was working OK.
Yes, everything was OK. Next, ‘ammunitioning’ the ship, this was hard work.
In the morning, a barge pulled along side full of shells and all kinds of ammunition and four torpedos, all these had to be loaded on board, this took all day and very tiring work.
Our next move, we were to report to the Orkney Isles. We had been posted to the home fleet, our job escorting the last leg of convoy’s coming in from the Atlantic.

My stay in the Orkneys was boring, shore leave, one canteen, no girls, poor weather and nothing to do. On one day the AA gunners were sent to the gunner range for the day, it was about one hour boat ride to the range which we were taken to by a small lighter, we spent the day there and left about 4 o’clock to return to our ship, it must have been about 5 o’clock and as we could see the Ashanti, the ship was pulling away, but the look-out must have seen us because it pulled too, to wait for us which took us another.
As soon as we were on board we headed out to sea, and as soon as we left the shelter of the harbour it became very rough, high seas, and I wished that we had missed the ship.
We were heading out to pick up a convoy to escort home which took 48 hours, then back to Orkney.

After a few more trips we were sent to the port of Rosyth for a boiler clean. This would give us a 72 hour leave which I was looking forward to.
On my return, I arrived back six hours late and was put on report. I finished up with a loss of one day’s pay and one day’s No 11, this was extra work, but this made very little difference to me as we went to sea the next day a convoy to Murmansk.

On December 21st, the destroyers join the convoy Ashanti, Musketeer, Meteor, Matchless, Opportune, Virago and the Athabaskan.
We were put into sea watches four hours on, four hours off, 24 hours a day, so half the ships company would be on watch, the other half would be preparing the meals doing their washing or sleeping - or trying too - we could not sling our hammocks because the ammunition shoot went through the mess decks and we might want these at any time.

We had to sleep on the lockers and with the weather being so rough we had to rope ourselves to them.
The weather turned very cold, it was one man’s job to go round the power operating gum mounting and rum them for five minutes to stop them freezing up, they had to be ready for action at any time, we had one scare when dept changes were fired, but at last we arrived in Murmansk, with 24 hours darkness, you could not tell what time of day it was, morning, afternoon or night.

After two days, and a good night’s sleep, we were piped to seagoing station homeward bound we were to take an empty convoy back to home waters, the weather was bad, a force nine gale, heavy seas, everything had to be lashed down.
The destroyer Virago cut across our bows the waves were covering one half of the ship, our’s must have been doing the same, I could see it was going to be a rough trip.

It was now late December 1943 we could see that Christmas Day was going to be spent at sea in a force nine gale, as it turned out we had boiled potatoes and corned beef for Christmas dinner, holding your plate with one hand and your fork in the other, the weather was so bad that the waves bent the metal ladder leading to the upper-deck, also the ammunition locker welded to the ship’s side were broken away.

Sailing with us where “M” class destroyers, the Matchless and the Musketeer, these were built in the war years and were very light, the gun mounting shields were even damaged but we were only doing around eight knots keeping the merchants ships together.

On Christmas Eve, we heard that the Schanhorst, a pocket battle ship had sailed. It was looking for a full convoy JW/RA: 55B which was coming up, this meant trouble all but four escort ships were turned round to reinforce the other navy ships, we were left with the convoy. The trouble was our radar was faulty, making our gunnery not 100 per cent.

Four of the destroyers, the Musketeer, Matchless, Virago, Opportune which turned around to support the main battle fleet of three cruisers Belfast, Sheffield, Norfolk, and the Duke of York, and their destroyer escort.

On December 26th, the Schanhorst was sunk, the destroyers which had left our convoy took part in the action, the ship we pulled along side in Murmansk the “Norfolk” was hit and a number killed, we were carrying their mail home for them, being we would be home first, (this could be the last letter some the men would write).

Our luck was in, our convoy JW/RA:55A had not been sighted so we managed to keep all ships intact and home safely.
We were now off the coast of Iceland we had to refuel so into the port of Akureyri, but we could not find the entrance to the port. A corvette was sent out to bring us in, we had faulty radar, the poor corvette which was a lot smaller than us was being tossed all over the place, one minute she was high on the sky line on top of a wave, the next she was out of sight, but she led us in. We entered the fjord with its side covered in snow and it still water, a pleasure after being in a force nine gale, the fjord was one or two miles long.

We pulled along side to refuel, it was a small fishing port. We purchased a bucket of fresh fish for five shilling, a nice change after corned beef. We stopped for 48 hours, we received the news that the Schanhorst had been sunk, she would not give us anymore trouble now, I wondered if the Ashanti had been held up in Akureyri, in case we had to return to the battle zone. I shall never know.
Out to sea and to our home base Orkney, the next stop.
On the way home we picked something up on the radar, the gun crew were ordered to fire star shell over the target, the gun mis-fired, fire two, another mis-fire, what had gone wrong?
The gunnery PO ran up from below to find out what the trouble was. If you have a mis-fire, you do not open the breach of the gun for five minutes in case the thing went off, delayed action, but this was emergency and it was open right away, a fool of the gun crew - which I was one - had not take the safety catch off. By the time this was sorted out, we found the target turn out to be a fishing boat.

The next day, 30 minute gun drill in the miserable weather we were having we curse the man on the fire button.
On return to the Orkneys, we had our Christmas dinner, the officers came round to mess deck, wishing all the best, and helping out which is part of the navy way at Christmas.

A few more days in harbour and we were ordered to sea again, this time we sailed down the west coast of Scotland and in the early hours of the morning we pulled into Londonderry for a quick refuel and within four hours we were back at sea heading South.

It must have been around dinner time. We moved into escort position ahead of the KG5, a battleship along with three other destroyers, still heading south doing 32 knots, full steam, in the late afternoon the look-out spotted four light coloured ships ahead. These turned out to be four destroyers from the Med fleet, they took over the escort position from us, we turned West.
The next thing I knew, we were entering a port in the Azores, another refuel and stand by. We could not go ashore the Azores was neutral in the war.

After two days, we slipped out into the open sea and joined by KG5 taking over from the Med fleet escort and steamed for home, within 36 hours we were in Plymouth with my two fresh pineapples, these I posted home, they arrived within four or five days of being picked.

We also sent a basket of pineapples to a children’s ward in a London hospital, there was a report and picture in the local press, they had adopted the ship. We were also adopted by the Ashanti tribe.
We found out later we had escorted Sir Winston Churchill to a meeting in the Med.
Plymouth our new base, we were now back to a little more civilisation, we could go on shore leave and enjoy ourselves.
We were now formed into a new international allied destroyer flotilla, seven destroyers to patrol the channel HMCS Athabaskan, Haida, Huron (tribal class destroyers), the Polish destroyers Blyskiwicka, Piorun and the HMS Ashanti. We would leave Plymouth around six in the evening and head for the French coast looking for enemy shipping, at midnight we were ordered to action station, the crews ready for anything. We were to meet at around four in the morning, we would head for home and fall back to two watches, four on four off, this meant we got very little sleep in the night.
We arrived in Plymouth around eight in the morning, the first job refuel, work ship ‘til 12 o’clock, then afternoon off, time to do a little washing and get your head down, and the same again, tea, and out again, this went on for weeks, with just an odd night ashore.

One day we sailed to the Isle of White to protect an invasion force, they were on training for the invasion of France, the fog came down and we finished up rounding them up using our radar to find all the small craft and getting them back to safety, you could only see 20 yards in front of your, things turn out all right in the end.

On the night of May 6th 1944 we left Plymouth around the same time but this time we had a new cruiser with us, the Black Prince, I believe this was the first time she had been on active duty, we were escorting her along with the Athabaskan, Huron, Haida and Ashanti, at midnight, action stations. We were a few miles off the French coast and radar picked something up, it was full steam ahead, four destroyers and the Black Prince (four enemy ships). We gave chase, we fired star shell to light up the enemy which turned out to be four Narvick class destroyers, they fired torpedos at us, one missed the Ashanti by 20 yards.

The Black Prince dropped back, being a new ship it could not take chances and we went in, all the 4.7 and 4 inch firing. Also, we fired four torpedos and around 750 shells steaming into a mass of red fire in the water, this was a star shell they had fired at us and it finished up in the sea.

We hit one of the enemy destroyers and, running it aground, we got in close and used the small ack ack guns to finish her off. We turned out to sea, but with the commotion and doing 25 knots we collided with one of our sister ships, nearly cutting off the bows. We arrived in Plymouth at about eight in the morning, we hoisted a brush up the mast. A clean sweep, no casualties, only the ship, we pulled up to the oil tankers to refuel, standing order. Heaven only knows we were not going out again to night with the front end partly missing, then we were ordered right into dry dock for repairs. We were lucky, seven days leave each watch, while the repairs were carried out.

The following night the Ashabaskan was sank by an E boat, they had to have their revenge.
While on leave I develop yellow jaundice and finished up in the promenade hospital for five weeks and the Ashanti seemed to be in the thick of it. They sank another German destroyer and finished up with a casualty, and there was me laid in bed nice and warm.
At the end of the five weeks I was sent back to the ship after only being out of bed three or four days. I complained, saying that I should have a week’s convalescence and that if I returned to the ship I would be at sea right away, but they sent me back to Plymouth.
I was lucky, the Ashanti was in, so I reported on board, the sick bay sent for me and put on light duty. We were going to sea that same day, so I finished up having a 24 hour sail into the Bay of Biscay.

On returning to port, they sent me back to the Chatham, unfit for sea, so on arriving in depot, I put in for in-from-sea leave and got seven days. Home again, I called in to the prom hospital to see the men I spent five weeks with, and the orderly of the ward wanted to know where I’d been. I should have been sent for two weeks convalescence - God knows how we won the war.
On my return to Chatham I was made unfit for sea for six months, but thing turned out OK. I managed to get a job, just two of us working at a Wrens’ hostel doing odd jobs. The meals were good and we spent all the working day there and reported back to barracks around 9.30pm.

When in barracks, I had every other weekend on leave, and went up to London. Most times we would leave barracks around 4.30pm Friday, arrive in London 6.30pm, I would book into one of the hostels bed and breakfast for about 5p, then off to a dance.

We had to be back in barracks on the Monday morning by 9am. Your pay was 30/- shilling per fortnight (75p per week). Cigs being only two and a half pence, your money still did not go very far.

While I was in barracks, the Ashanti paid off and the ship’s company came back to Chatham so I met up with my old shipmates, this was October 3rd, the Ashanti was scrapped. only one of the few tribal class destroyers to come through the war in one piece, it must have steamed many miles.

We were now in to France. the invasion was going all right so the next move would be out east, the navy was no longer required in home waters.

It was February 1945, my name was posted up for another draft to a new ship. Once again, we mustered in the drill hall with our kit, we boarded a train having no idea were we would finish up, we travelled all day before some one realised we were just outside Liverpool. We finished up in the docks, and we had to board the troop ship Pastur, we were going to Canada.
We sailed for Halifax which took five days, and on board we were also talking Canadian troops back home some with their English brides, sailed 28th February, arrived 6th Mar 1945.

On arriving in Halifax, we were put on to a train, wooden seats they were like cattle trucks and we finished up on Montreal we changed trains, but this time it was first class, triple-glazing in the window to keep the cold out.

First class seats, dining car, this was our living condition for the next five days, a train trip across Canada to Vancouver, through the Canadian Rockies and to finish a six hour boat trip to Vancouver Island. We finished at a Royal Navy Canadian Barrack, (RCNS NADN) the ship we were to take over was new, a LST a large tank landing craft (LST(3)3514).

It took around four weeks to finish off the ship, in those four weeks we celebrated VE Day, but being on the west coast of Canada the Japanese War was of more concern to them, but they had a small celebration.

The LST was well built, with tiled floor in the WC and wash room. Most British ships seemed to have iron deck with slotted duck boards, but we had all the finishing touches, which turned out to be a good thing.

Once again we took over a ship, and we took her out for trials.
I was given a light ack-ack gun on the bridge, giro sight, these work out the speed the aircraft was going, so you could fire to the spot that the aircraft would be by the time your shell arrived.
We spent seven days taking over the ship and sailed on May 23 up the west coast to Los Angeles, arrived May 28, sailed June 3. This meant we could get into Hollywood for a little shore leave.

We sailed again on June 3 to arrive in Panama on June 17, sailed June 18, arrived New York 29 and spent seven days there, sailed July 6, heading for Plymouth.

On leaving New York, we took on around 12 children who were 12 years old, they had been evacuated to the States for a few years anyway. We arrived in Plymouth on July 17, after hitting bad weather and finished up in the Bay of Biscay. By this time, I was now chief quarter master in charge of wheel house and steering the ship. In port you also took charge of the gang plank checking everyone leaves the ship and returning.

After four weeks in Plymouth, and having seven days leave, the war was over.
I remember in Plymouth one night, I must have been duty watching, I had turned in and there was such a noise, ship sirens going, people shouting, I got up to see what was going on. The Japanese had surrendered, the war had finished, some the lads got dressed and made their way ashore to the first pub they could find.
The police tried to stop them leaving the docks, but they just barged through the gates with the rest of the other ships companies which were in dock.
Now we were going out east for the Japanese war, but with it being over we wondered what the next job would be, it turned out to be still out east.
We left Plymouth on September 3 for Southampton, arrived September 4, and loaded up with a cargo of trucks sailed for Port Said on September 6.

This was quite a change, warm weather, something I had not been used to, plenty of room and living space. Down each side of the ship were cabins to hold around 15 men around 12 cabins the tank space would hold 12 buses you could play football when empty after a destroyer this was al luxury liner.
We sailed up to the Med. First stop Port Said.

We unloaded the cargo in Singapore with the help of Japanese prisoners, after that we moved cargo around until we arrived back in Singapore, late December 20.
While in Singapore, an officer of the Royal Marine Band came on board to inspect the ship, we found out later this was the second LST he had seen, the first one was not to his standard, so we were chosen.
We would now be the ship to transport the Royal Marine Band around to play at victory parades at most ports around the east. At last we put them ashore in Calcutta, they are going across India by road, so back to moving troops and cargo.
The Marine band while on board used the tank space for band practice, we spent a lot of our time listening to them, free entertainment.

We finished up bringing a ship full of cargo and troops back home to England, this was now May 24, 1946. The next move, in to barracks, until June and away home.

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